Wednesday, April 23, 2025

April 23, 1932: One in a String of Oklahoma Abortion Deaths

Dr. Richard Thacker

Dr. Richard E. Thacker was prosecuted for the April 23, 1932 abortion death of 21-year-old telegraph worker Robbie Lou Thompson in Oklahoma City. Robbie Lou died of sepsis

Dr. Richard E. Thacker was implicated. Along with his wife, he fled the state, leading to a manhunt that finally located him in Springdale, Arkansas.

Thacker testified that Marvin Erdman had come with Robbie Lou to his office to consult him. He said that she was "in a rather serious condition" and that he advised Erdman to take Robbie Lou to the hospital right away.

Thacker said that Erdman and Robbie Lou left his office, and that at about midnight he got a call from Erdman, who wanted Thacker to meet them at the home of Mrs. Moore. When he arrived there, Thacker said, Erdman told him that Robbie Lou had died on the way to the hospital and that he wanted Thacker to make out a death certificate. "He prevailed on me to falsify that a little bit in order to protect her; I made out the certificate showing she died from acute gastritis. I was never paid for my services. I did not operate on Miss Thompson."

Erdman testified in the trial that he had indeed taken Robbie Lou to Thacker, who had charged him $50 for the abortion.

In his trial for the April 15 death of Ruth Hall, and over Thacker's understandable objections, the court permitted a number of witnesses to testify that after Ruth's visit to his practice, Thacker had performed fatal abortions on Robbie Lou, as well as on Lennis May Roach, who died on April 24, and Nancy Joe Lee, who died on April 25. The witnesses went into detail about the events, up to and including the death of each of them.

Thacker had been a physician in the army before taking up his career as an abortionist. A practical nurse, Mrs. Luther Bryant Pierce, operated a private sanitarium in the Oklahoma City area and said that though she did not allow Thacker to perpetrate abortions at her facility, she did provide aftercare for them at her site.

Thacker was also implicated in the April 14, 1932 death of Isabelle Ferguson, and along with Dr. J. W. Eisiminger was implicated in the April 25 death of Virginia Lee Wyckoff.

Thacker was sentenced to life in prison for Ruth Hall's death. His attorney announced an immediate motion for an appeal, on the grounds that Thacker's other abortions should not have been admitted as testimony. The appeal failed. Thacker died in prison on April 1, 1937 from a heart attack.

Watch Dr. Thacker's Bad Month in 1932 on YouTube. Watch Dr. Thacker's Bad Month in 1932 on Rumble.

Sources:
at 12:00 AM

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